Johannesburg police do not want to comment on claims that slain mining entrepreneur Brett Kebble’s car was taken to panel beaters and cleaned before forensic tests had been carried out.
Johannesburg police spokesperson Superintendent Chris Wilken said: ”I phoned the investigating officer myself and we have decided that the police are not going to comment on it. It is not even worth commenting on.”
The Star newspaper on Thursday reported that sources close to the investigation said that Kebble’s Mercedes was out of police control or custody for ”a significant period of time” after the murder — before forensic tests had been carried out.
Forensic investigator David Klatzow, who was briefly involved in the investigation, told the South African Press Association: ”It [the car] was given a cursory examination, then released. Then it was taken back into custody and re-examined.”
He said that from a forensic point of view, ”it should have been kept under police control from the moment it was taken from the scene until the moment they had no more evidence to get from it”.
He said evidence could have been destroyed and fingerprints could have been smudged.
The report said that photographers were allowed onto the scene and that cartridges were picked up without the spot they were found being marked.
The Star reported that the vehicle had been taken to a panel beater in Booysens, Johannesburg, and was apparently cleaned before it went back to the police for forensic tests.
Kebble was shot dead in Melrose in September while travelling between evening engagements.
No arrests have been made and the investigation continues. – Sapa